High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is no stranger to the average American menu. This ingredient appears in foods ranging from soft drinks to breakfast cereals, serving as a sweetener and shelf-life extending preservative. As the Mayo Clinic explains, foods made with HFCS are often low in nutrients but high in calories, making them culprits for weight gain and obesity, as well as subsequent diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. Despite its prevalence, avoiding HFCS doesn't have to be difficult, and nixing it from your diet can help you shed unwanted pounds.
Step 1
Avoid items with the words "high fructose corn syrup" on the nutrition label--especially when this term is listed as one of the first three ingredients, which indicates that the food contains a large amount of HFCS. Foods consisting predominantly of HFCS are likely to be high in calories and low in satiating substances, such as fiber. Omitting these foods from your diet can encourage weight loss. Baked goods and processed foods are particularly likely to contain HFCS.
Step 2
Stop drinking full-calorie soft drinks--most of which contain significant amounts of HFCS. When you want to quench your thirst with something sweet, opt for diet beverages, flavored sparkling water or other drinks that provide flavor without sugar.
Step 3
Consume fresh fruit instead of candied fruit, jellies, jams or syrup-packed canned fruit--which typically contain HFCS, according to an April 2004 commentary in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition." If fresh fruit is not available, choose unsweetened frozen fruit or canned fruit packed in water, both of which are lower in calories than fruit products containing HFCS.
Step 4
Limit your use of pre-made tomato sauces and condiments, such as ketchup--especially at restaurants where you cannot check package labels. According to SweetSurprise, many companies use HFCS to balance the tartness of tomatoes and enhance the flavor of tomato-based sauces. When possible, make such sauces and condiments from scratch, or purchase brands that do not contain HFCS.
Step 5
Cook your own meals instead of purchasing them pre-made. Cooking may take longer than grabbing convenience foods, but you can ensure that homemade meals are free of HFCS and aren't packed with extra calories from sugar.
Tips and Warnings
- According to the website Nordic Sugar, high-fructose corn syrup may masquerade under the names isomerose, HFS, HFCS and isoglucose--especially in products packaged outside of North America. Scan product labels for these words when checking for high-fructose corn syrup. Products labeled "light" or "reduced-fat" often have HFCS added in place of fat. Check ingredients labels for these items before consuming them.
- Although 100-percent fruit juices are more nutritious than soft drinks, they still deliver abundant sugar and calories, which may cancel out the weight-loss effects of cutting HFCS. Avoid replacing items containing HFCS with higher-calorie substitutes. Although cutting HFCS from your diet should naturally lower your caloric intake, it's possible to gain weight rather than lose it if your menu provides more calories than you burn.
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